from himself; nor could any motive to tenderness, except the confcioufnefs that we have all been guilty of the fame fault, difpofe us to pity those who thus confign themselves to voluntary ruin, NUMB. 111. TUESDAY, November 27, 1753. Quæ non fecimus ipfi. Vix ea noftra voco. The deeds of long defcended ancestors QVID. DRYDEN. THE evils infeparably annexed to the present condition of man, are fo numerous and afflictive, that it has been, from age to age, the task of fome to bewail, and of others to folace them; and he, therefore, will be in danger of feeing a common enemy, who fhall attempt to depreciate the few pleasures and felicities which nature has allowed us. Yet I will confefs, that I have fometimes employed my thoughts in examining the pretenfions that are made to happiness, by the fplendid and envied condition of life; and have not thought the hour unprofitably spent, when I have detected the imposture of counterfeit advantages, and found difquiet lurking under falfe appearances of gaiety and greatness. It is afferted by a tragick poet, that "eft mifer nemo nifi comparatus,' "no man is miferable, "but as he is compared with others happier than "himfelf" this pofition is not ftrictly and philofophically true. He might have faid, with rigorous propriety, that no man is happy but as he is compared with the miferable; for fuch is the ftate of this world, that we find in it abfolute mifery, but happinefs only comparative; we may incur as much pain as we can poffibly endure, though we can never obtain as much happiness as we might poffibly enjoy. Yet it is certain likewise, that many of our miferies are merely comparative: we are often made unhappy, not by the prefence of any real evil, but by the abfence of fome fictitious good; of fomething which is not required by any real want of nature, which has not in itself any power of gratification, and which neither reason nor fancy would have prompted us to wifh, did we not fee it in the poffeffion of others. For a mind difeafed with vain longings after unattainable advantages, no medicine can be prefcribed, but an impartial enquiry into the real worth of that which is fo ardently defired.. It is well known, how much the mind, as well as the eye, is deceived by distance; and, perhaps, it will be found, that of many imagined bleffings it may be doubted, whether he that wants or poffeffes them has more reafon to be fatisfied with his lot. The dignity of high birth and long extraction, no man, to whom nature has denied it, can confer upon himself; and, therefore, it deferves to be confidered, whether whether the want of that which can never be gained, may not easily be endured. It is true, that if we confider the triumph and delight with which most of those recount their ancestors who have ancestors to recount, and the artifices by which fome who have rifen to unexpected fortune endeavour to infert themfelves into an honourable stem, we fhall be inclined to fancy that wisdom or virtue may be had by inheritance, or that all the excellencies of a line of progenitors are accumulated on their defcendant. Reason, indeed, will foon inform us, that our estimation of birth is arbitrary and capricious, and that dead ancestors can have no influence but upon imagination; let it then be examined, whether one dream may not operate in the place of another; whether he that owes nothing to forefathers, may not receive equal pleafure from the consciousness of owing all to himfelf; whether he may not, with a little meditation, find it more honourable to found than to continue a family, and to gain dignity than tranfmit it; whether, if he receives no dignity from the virtues of his family, he does not likewife escape the danger of being difgraced by their crimes; and whether he that brings a new name into the world, has not the convenience of playing the game of life without a stake, and opportunity of winning much though he has nothing to lofe. There is another opinion concerning happiness, which approaches much more nearly to univerfality, but which may, perhaps, with equal reafon be difputed. The pretenfions to ancestral honours many of the fons of earth eafily fee to be ill-grounded; but all agree to celebrate the advantage of hereditary riches, R 4 riches, and to confider thofe as the minions of fortune, who are wealthy from their cradles, whofe eftate is " res non parta labore fed relicta;" "the acqui, "fition of another, not of themfelves ;" and whom a father's industry has dispensed from a laborious attention to arts or commerce, and left at liberty to dif pofe of life as fancy fhall direct them. If every man were wife and virtuous, capable to difcern the beft ufe of time, and refolute to practise it; it might be granted, I think, without hesitation, that total liberty would be a bleffing; and that it would be desirable to be left at large to the exercise of religious and focial duties, without the interruption of importunate avocations. But fince felicity is relative, and that which is the means of happiness to one man may be to another the cause of mifery,, we are to confider; what state is beft adapted to human nature in its prefent degeneracy and frailty. And, furely, to far the greater number it is highly expedient, that they fhould by fome fettled fcheme of duties be refcued from the tyranny of caprice, that they fhould be driven on by neceffity through the paths of life with their attention confined to a stated task, that they may be lefs at leifure to deviate into mifchief at the call of folly. When we obferve the lives of thofe whom an ample inheritance has let loofe to their own direction, what do we difcover that can excite our envy? Their time feems not to pafs with much applaufe from others, or fatisfaction to themfelves: many fquander their exuberance of fortune in luxury and debauchery, and have no other ufe of money than to inflame their pallions, and riot in a wide range of licentioufnefs; licentioufnefs; others, lefs criminal indeed, but, furely, not much to be praised, lie down to fleep, and rise up to trifle, are employed every morning in finding expedients to rid themselves of the day, chase pleafure through all the places of publick refort, fly from London to Bath, and from Bath to London, without any other reason for changing place, but that they go in queft of company as idie and as vagrant as them, felves, always endeavouring to raise fome new defire that they may have fomething to purfue, to rekindle fome hope which they know will be disappointed, changing one amufement for another which a few months will make equally infipid, or finking into languor and disease for want of fomething to actuate their bodies or exhilarate their minds. Whoever has frequented thofe places, where idlers affemble to escape from folitude, knows that this is generally the ftate of the wealthy; and from this state it is no great hardship to be debarred. No man can be happy in total idleness: he that should be condemned to lie torpid and motionlefs, "would fly for recreation," fays South, " to the mines and the gal "lies ;" and it is well, when nature or fortune find employment for thofe, who would not have known how to procure it for themselves. He, whofe mind is engaged by the acquifition or improvement of a fortune, not only escapes the infipidity of indifference, and the tediousness of inactivity, but gains enjoyments wholly unknown to those, who live lazily on the toil of others; for life affords no higher pleasure than that of furmounting difficulties, paffing from one step of fuccefs to another, forming new wishes, and feeing them gratified. He that labours |